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Friday, February 22, 2013

I found another awesome recipe from my favorite cooking blog, Closet Cooking. This would make a great topping for chicken or fish, or just use as salsa for chips.

Makes 1 cup

½ lb
tomatillos, husks removed

1 jalapeno
pepper, seeded and deveined

¼ cup green
olives

½ small
onion, chopped

1 large
garlic clove

Juice and
zest from one lime

1 Tbsp extra
virgin olive oil (EVOO)

½ cup
cilantro

Salt and
pepper to taste

Place the
tomatillos on a baking sheet under broil until skins blacken and bubble. Remove
from oven and place in a covered container for 15 minutes; remove skins. Add
tomatillos and remaining ingredients in a food processor and puree.

Served over
grilled chicken with rice and beans, or enjoy as a dip for chips.

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

I found this sauce recipe from one of my new
favorite cookbooks, At Blanchard's Table. I served it warm over a grilled,
sliced pork loin.

1 lb pork
loin

Italian
salad dressing (for marinade)

Mustard Sauce
with Capers & Parmesan:

(Sauce is enough
for about 3 servings)

2 Tbsp
drained capers

2 Tbsp
freshly grated parmesan cheese

½ tsp
Worcestershire sauce

¼ cup fresh
Italian flat leaf parsley

½ Tbsp
Dijion mustard

Salt and
Pepper, to taste

3 Tbsp sour
cream

1 tsp fresh
lemon juice

In a bag or
bowl, marinate pork loin in Italian salad dressing overnight. Start grilling
over high heat, to get good grill marks and crispies going on, then turn heat
to low and continue cooking until pork reaches 160 degrees in the middle. Let
rest for about 10 minutes before slicing.

In a small
food processor, combine all ingredients for the sauce. Transfer to a small
sauce pan over low and heat until warm.

In a food
processor add parsley and garlic; process with a few pulses. Stir in EVOO,
vinegar, salt, pepper and red pepper flakes.

Use half of
the sauce to marinate the salmon filets for at least 30 minutes. Save the rest
to use as a topping once fish is grilled.

Roasted
Cauliflower:

2 cups of
cauliflower florets

Extra Virgin
Olive Oil (EVOO)

Salt and
pepper

Fresh lemon
juice

Freshly
grated parmesan cheese

Preheat oven
to 425 degrees. Place cauliflower on a baking tray, drizzle with EVOO and
sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast cauliflower for 15 minutes. Using tongs,
flip florets over, spinkle with lemon juice and cook for an additional 10 minutes, until florets are
browned and just fork tender. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

Serve grilled fish over a bed of rice with cauliflower. Drizzle fish with extra chimichurri sauce.

Saturday, February 16, 2013

I created this
breakfast using all the leftovers from our Valentine’s Day feast … and then added
two eggs! Yum … and Valentine’s weekend continues!

Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)

2 large red skinnedpotatoes, steamed or boiled, cubed

½ cup diced cooked steak

½ cup chopped steamed cauliflower

½ small yellow onion, diced

2 eggs

Salt and pepper to taste

In a frying pan over high heat, drizzle EVOO. Add potatoes and cook until all sides are browned and crispy. Turn heat to medium, add steak, cauliflower and onion; mix together.

Create two holes in the hash mixture and crack an egg into each hole. Cover pan and let egg cook until the whites are settled, but the yolk is still soft (or cooked to your liking). Season with salt and pepper.

I found this
recipe on a blog that I follow – Closet Cooking. It was so easy to
make and super tasty. I look forward to making it again.

2 chicken
breasts

Salt and
pepper

Extra Virgin
Olive Oil (EVOO)

1 Tbsp freshly
grated ginger

1 lemon
(juice and zest)

2 Tbsp honey

¼ cup
chicken stock

Salt and
pepper, to taste

2 green
onion sprigs, chopped (for garnish)

Cut chicken
breasts into cube sized pieces. Season with salt and pepper. In a frying pan
over med-high heat, drizzle EVOO and brown all sides of chicken; cook until almost done.
Remove chicken from pan; set aside.

In the same
pan, add ginger and cook for about one minute. Add lemon juice, zest, honey,
stock, salt and pepper. Reduce heat and allow to thicken. (NOTE: if sauce is
too thin, whisk in a tablespoon of cornstarch.)

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

In the spirit of Chinese New Year, I decided to make this
spicy Asian dish. I always enjoy a trip to the Asian market because there are
so many different things to check out (and they have cheap veggies!). On this
visit, I had to pick up the dried red chilies for this dish. You can also pick up some fortune cookies for a fun, festive dessert.新年快乐！

For Chicken
Marinade:

2 ½ tsp soy
sauce

1 tsp corn
starch

½ tsp sesame
oil

1 lb chicken
breasts, cubed

For Sauce:

1 ½ Tbsp soy
sauce

1 Tbsp
balsamic vinegar

2 Tbsp
chicken broth

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp
cornstarch

3 Tbsp oil

½ cup diced
red bell pepper

½ cup diced
yellow onion

10 dried red
chilies

1 Tbsp fresh
cracked black pepper

3 garlic
cloves, minced

1 Tbsp
grated fresh ginger

4 green
onions, sliced

¼ cup peanuts

In a small
bowl , whisk together ingredients for the chicken marinade. Marinate chicken
cubes in sauce for at least 30 minutes.

In a
separate small bowl, whisk together ingredients for the sauce; set aside.

In a large
frying pan over high heat, add oil and cook chicken until almost done and all
sides are browned. Remove chicken from pan and set aside.

In the same
frying pan, sauté peppers and onions for about 3-4 minutes. Add
dried chilies, pepper, garlic and ginger. Sauté for about 1-2 minutes, until
fragrant. Mix in sauce mixture and bring to a boil. Add chicken, green onions
and peanuts, turn heat to low and mix together. Continue to cook until chicken
is cooked all the way through.

Monday, February 11, 2013

2 cups
shrimp stock (If you don’t have this just boil the shrimp tails in vegetable
broth for about 20 minutes)

1 14 oz can
of diced tomatoes, drained

1 Tbsp Creole
or Cajun seasoning

1 Tbsp
Worcestersire sauce

1 lb shrimp,
shelled and deveined

Tabasco
sauce to taste

Salt and
pepper to taste

2 Tbsp lemon
juice

½ cup green
onions, sliced

½ cup minced
flat leaf Italian parsley

In a large
pan over medium heat, melt butter until it starts to brown and then sprinkle
and mix in flour; mix and simmer. Add onion, celery and pepper and cook until
tender, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook for another minute. Whisk in
stock, tomatoes, creole seasoning and Worcestershire sauce; simmer for 20
minutes. Add shrimp and cook for about 5 minutes, until pink or heated all the
way through. Season with hot sauce, salt and pepper to taste. Mix in lemon
juice, green onions and parsley. Serve with rice.

In a large
pot, bring broth to a boil and add pasta. Cook for about 8 minutes.

In a large
sauce pan over med-high heat, drizzle EVOO and add veggies. Sauté for 3-4
minutes.

Once pasta
is al dente, add a can of diced tomatoes and sautéed veggies. In the same sauce
pan, add sliced sausage and brown both sides. Then add to soup. Season with
Tabasco, pepper flakes and salt and pepper, to taste.

Cut
horizontally through the center of the pork, but not all the way through. Open
flat, like a book. Place between 2 sheets of plastic wrap and pound to about ½”
thick using a meat mallet. Season with salt and pepper.

Move pork
loin to a casserole dish and bake uncovered for about 45 minutes or until a thermometer
inserted in the middle registers 138 degrees. Remove pork from oven and let
stand for 15 minutes before slicing.

In a large pot, cook chorizo over medium heat. Add jalapenos; cook for 2-4 minutes. Add a can of chili. Mix together and cook until chorizo is cooked all the way through.Cut potatoes
in half and boil or steam until fork tender; drain. Using a melon baller or a
small spoon, scoop out centers of potatoes. Do not pierce potato skins. Fill
with chili and top with cheese.

Place filled
potatoes on a baking sheet and under broiler for 2-3 minutes.

To make crust, in a food processor,
pulse cinnamon graham crackers into crumbs. Add brown sugar and salt; pulse to
combine. Drizzle butter over crumbs and pulse until crumbs are evenly moistened
with butter. Press crumbs evenly and firmly into bottom of prepared pan. Bake
until deep golden brown, 18 to 20 minutes. Cool on wire rack. Evenly sprinkle
crust with pecan pieces. Do not turn off oven while making filling.

To make filling, in a medium bowl, combine
cream cheese, zest and salt until thoroughly combined. Whisk in condensed milk until
no lumps of cream cheese remain; whisk in egg yolk. Add lime juice and whisk gently until
incorporated.

Pour filling into crust, over pecans;
spread to corners and smooth surface with spatula. Bake until set and edges
begin to pull away slightly from sides, 15 to 20 minutes. Cool on wire rack, about
1 1/2 hours. Cover with foil and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled at least
2 hours.